Overdose Awareness Week, 2021

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Title 3--
The President

Proclamation 10241 of August 27, 2021

Overdose Awareness Week, 2021

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

The overdose epidemic has taken a toll on far too many
Americans and their loved ones. Addiction is a disease
that touches families in every community, including my
own. The epidemic is national, but the impact is
personal. It is personal to the millions who confront
substance use disorder every day, and to the families
who have lost loved ones to an overdose.

During Overdose Awareness Week, we recommit to taking
bold actions to prevent overdoses and related deaths,
and enhance our support for individuals with substance
use disorders.

In recent years, we have seen synthetic opioids, such
as illicitly manufactured fentanyl, drive many overdose
deaths with cocaine- and methamphetamine-related deaths
also increasing at alarming rates. The COVID-19
pandemic has exacerbated the overdose epidemic, as
necessary pandemic restrictions made it harder for
individuals with addiction to receive the treatment and
support services they need. These factors contributed
to the more than 93,000 drug overdose deaths in 2020.
As a Nation, we need a strong response to America's
overdose epidemic and an investment in prevention, harm
reduction, treatment and recovery services, as well as
strategies to reduce the supply of illicit drugs.

While drug overdose and addiction affect many different
communities across the United States, we also recognize
the longstanding inequities experienced by people of
color, people who identify as LGBTQ+, formerly
incarcerated individuals, people experiencing
homelessness, and others. For too many years, these
communities have faced disparate access to health care,
differential treatment in the criminal justice system,
and poorer health outcomes.

My Administration is committed to addressing addiction
and the overdose epidemic with evidence-based
strategies. In April, to ensure that the Federal
Government is promoting evidence-based public health
and safety interventions, the Office of National Drug
Control Policy released my Administration's first year
drug policy priorities. These include expanding access
to prevention, treatment and harm reduction efforts,
reducing youth substance use, reducing the supply of
illicit substances, advancing recovery-ready
workplaces, and expanding the addiction workforce and
access to recovery support services for all Americans.
My Administration is also committed to eliminating
racial disparities in responding to the overdose
epidemic as well as reviewing the overall approach to
drug policy.

This effort requires significant investments in our
health care infrastructure. In my American Rescue Plan,
we provided crucial funding for substance use disorder
treatment and harm reduction, including a nearly $4
billion investment in our Nation's behavioral health
infrastructure. This includes $30 million for a new
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services
Administration grant program to support community-based
efforts aimed at preventing overdoses and reducing harm
associated with substance use.

We also recognize that many of our brave veterans
recovering from service injuries may be vulnerable to
opioid addiction. I signed the Dispose Unused
Medications and Prescription Opioids Act to ensure that
Veterans Affairs

facilities provide locations to dispose controlled
substances in a safe, secure and supportive
environment.

Agencies across the Federal Government are also making
significant strides in supporting individuals with
substance use disorders. The Department of Health and
Human Services continues to work on expanding access to
evidence-based treatment, including a new policy to
expand access to buprenorphine, a medication for the
treatment of opioid use disorder. The Drug Enforcement
Administration also issued a new rule that allows more
opioid use disorder treatment programs to operate
mobile components to better serve rural and underserved
communities. These actions are only the beginning. My
Administration will be taking additional actions to
reduce barriers to life-saving treatment and expand
access to prevention, harm reduction, and recovery
support services.

Overdose Awareness Week provides us an opportunity to
recommit ourselves to addressing this epidemic. By
enhancing our support for individuals facing substance
use disorder we can save lives.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR., President of
the United States of America, by virtue of the
authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws
of the United States, do hereby proclaim August 29
through September 4, 2021, as Overdose Awareness Week.
I call upon citizens, government agencies,
organizations, healthcare providers, and research
institutions to raise awareness of substance use
disorders to combat stigma, to promote treatment and
celebrate recovery, and to strengthen our collective
efforts to prevent overdose deaths. August 31st also
marks Overdose Awareness Day, on which our Nation
mourns the lives lost to the drug overdose epidemic.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
twenty-seventh day of August, in the year of our Lord
two thousand twenty-one, and of the Independence of the
United States of America the two hundred and forty-
sixth.